Apple tops again in new device activations
29 Dec 2015
Apple has again taken a sizeable lead over the rest of the pack in new device activations over the week of 19 December through 25 December, reveals a new report published yesterday by Yahoo-owned analytics firm Flurry.
However, the performance declined 2.2 percentage points from 2014, the debut year for the larger-screened iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus phablet.
Apple's dip in seasonal market share spelt gains for runner-up Samsung, which improved 2.1 per cent over 2014, with 19.8 per cent of all device activations this year.
Samsung's gain came on the back of an overall trend toward phablet devices, with the extra-large smartphone form factor accounting for half of all devices running Google's Android operating system.
Nokia took the third spot with a 2-per cent share of the market, while LG and Xiaomi came next in the pecking order with shares of 1.7 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.
The breakdown of the results by device revealed market trends also applied to Apple's offerings, with the larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus accounting for 12 per cent of all Apple device activations over the week-long period.
According to Flurry, adoption of Apple's phablet comes at the expense of so-called "medium phones" like the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s and small tablets like the iPad mini, with the latter accounting for 9 per cent of all iOS device activations.
The report comes from Flurry's analytics platform, and was based on 780,000 apps it tracked across a range of devices.
Given the fact that many consumers received new phones and tablets during the holiday season, taking a snapshot of this data could point to trends in terms of which devices and form factors were gaining popularity, as also which manufacturers were growing or losing market share.
Flurry, this year, uncovered what it dubbed the ''death of small phones,'' which meant for the first time in 2015, consumers appeared to be opting for phablets over smaller-screened phones.
According to Flurry, phones with a screen smaller than 3.5 inches (eg most Blackberry devices) were practically extinct.
Further, it did not even expect those devices to make an appearance on next year' chart.
The firm does not even expect those devices to make an appearance on next year's chart.
